See What I See
by Fullmetal Catalyst
Summary: Flying with Aang to Ba Sing Se, a bored Toph decides to make her own fun, leading to a sight she could not have imagined. Oneshot, Taang.


**Author's Notes:** I do not own Avatar: the Last Airbender.

* * *

><p>Toph could never get used to riding on Appa.<p>

It wasn't the wind lashing her sightless eyes and whipping her unruly hair about her in a wild halo, or the great bison's erratic weaving and dipping that sent her stomach rolling. No, it was the mind-numbing boredom of sitting in one place, trapped as surely as if the saddle had been a wooden cage, for _days_ on end, with to do but eat, sleep, and let her mind wander.

But Aang needed her help in Ba Sing Se, so here she was, leaning over the side and watching nothing fly by her.

"Look, buddy!" Aang's excited voice intruded on Toph's misery. "That cloud looks just like you! Well, not _quite_ as good," he conceded with a laugh as Appa bellowed a response. "It must be the arrow…and I'm not just saying that."

Even as a spike of envy pierced her, Toph couldn't help but smile. Aang was immersed in his element, living it, _breathing_ it, and the knowledge of his happiness almost overcame her languid demeanor. She could almost forget that up here she was truly blind, could almost even pretend that her own element was nearby…

She sighed. Her beloved, dirty earth was thousands of feet below. With her lack of sight, it might as well have not existed at all.

An idea flitted into her hazy thoughts. If the earth didn't exist, if there was nothing but sky beneath her…it was a _crazy_ idea, a _dangerous_ one. Toph grinned, fully alert now. A _fun_ one.

"We're only a few hours away, Toph."

_Good. He probably wouldn't approve of it, anyway._ Toph flopped onto her back. "_Finally_. I'm _dying_ over here."

"The monks always said—"

"Yeah, yeah, patience is a virtue, I should be like a stupid leaf on the wind and let the breeze take me where it wants to. Did I get it right?"

_But what if he—_

"Well, yes, they said that, but they also said that if meditation doesn't work then you need to stay active. If insight doesn't come to you, _you_ need to go to _it_."

Had he said _anything_ else, she might not have followed through. But he was right, as usual. Why wait a few hours when she could enjoy herself now?

"Sounds like a plan. Catch you later, Twinkle Toes!"

Without waiting for Aang's puzzled reply, Toph rose, staggered on stiff legs to the edge of the saddle, and threw herself off.

For a moment, she was in between gravity and –

Then the wind slammed into her.

Shrieking in her ears, it battered her body at a thousand points, a powerful pressure that pounded harder with each second. After a few moments the pounding faded, but the oddly she felt even _more_ weightless, like she didn't have to support herself…almost as if she was lying on the ground, except…

Her heart hammered in her throat. She could see _everything_, and yet everything was _nothing_, a horrifying _emptiness_. It was one thing to know that it was there, or that it wasn't, but to experience it like _this_, to _see_ and yet _not_ see, made her want to _scream_, to fight it, to do _something_, but the air caught in her throat and her limbs were frozen in a blanket of pressure, how could she –

Something _hit_ her from the side.

Her arms and legs instinctively crushed the object – _Aang_ – in a hug so powerful that she thought his ribs might crack. For a gut-wrenching moment, they continued to fall…then something _snapped_ and their descent ceased, arrested by Aang's glider.

"_Toph_! Are you _crazy_?" In the absence of the rushing wind, his voice was oddly muted, but Toph knew he was shouting. "You could have…don't _do_ that!"

She tried to answer, wanted to, to tell him she was _okay_, but her mouth was frozen in a _painful_ parody of a smile, the words wouldn't come, stuck in her throat, so she _squeezed_ him, holding him to her as if he was all that kept her from –

And she _couldn't stop shaking_. She laughed uncontrollably through a rictus of fear, knowing that it was the only way to keep from bursting into tears, and _that_ would be embarrassing.

"_Toph!_"

Bit by bit, she regained control of herself. She was _Toph Bei Fong_, and she would _not_ let a little wind take all her wits away.

_Besides, I did sort of ask for it…_

"Why did you _jump off Appa_?"

Breathing deeply, she giggled. Now that the danger was past, it seemed so _funny_. Her explanation tumbled out. "I was bored, and you told me to find _insight_, and I couldn't find any on Appa, any insight, and so I decided to find some, there wasn't anywhere else to go, and, well…"

She pressed her forehead against his chest when he didn't answer. He was so _sturdy_, something she appreciated all the more after her fall through the void.

Which didn't change the fact that, if the air currents flowing around her were any indication, they were _still_ in that void, kept airborne only by Aang's glider.

"So…you can let me down now," she said casually, tapping him on the back.

The air stung her body in a thousand places as they suddenly dropped, _far too fast_, and she yelped, scrambling to tighten her hold on Aang. Had he somehow lost control of…no, he was too good an Airbender to just _fall_, and his heartbeat was normal as their flight leveled out.

_Too_ normal. Almost as if…

"I don't know, Toph…I kind of like this."

…he had done it intentionally.

Toph growled, but there was little feeling behind it. Truth be told, she was hardly going to complain about having Aang so _close_.

Still, she needed to feel the rough caress of fresh soil against her wiggling toes, the stubborn resistance of rock as she Bended it at her latest sparring partner, the thrill of discovery impurities as she probed the mysteries of metal. She needed to roll in the mud, to build a subterranean labyrinth, to sleep in a tent of stone.

This was satisfying, but she needed _earth_ again.

Sighing, she turned her head, her ear grazing Aang's chest –

And she gasped as the lines of his body _blazed_ into existence.

Where the breeze had given Toph a faint outline of the boy and his glider, his heart showed her not only the contours of his body, but every _curl_ of his shirt, every _curve_ of his muscles. From his light feet – _propped against the glider, steering through an environment she could not see _– to his flexible limbs and slender torso – _slightly tensed with the effort of accommodating her weight _– all the way to his big, round eyes and lips she knew to be soft – _curved upward in a faint half-smile_ – she could see him as clearly as if she'd never been blind…

No, _no_ pair of eyes could see him this intimately. She could _feel_ the blood pulsing through his veins, the air filling and exiting his lungs…even the leisurely effort he directed into his Bending.

Her beloved earth didn't compare to this. Aang was so _alive_. He was _everything_, a young man's lean body clutching a broad glider, a body that was compliant and yielding but not weak, _never_ weak, only kind.

A body that turned its head to look at her. His elevated heartbeat betrayed his concern even as it made his features – his smooth, comfortable features – yet _more_ distinct. "Toph? Are you okay?"

Toph blinked away the enchanting image. "Yep. I'm okay. Just, um…just wondering, how high up are we?"

Aang's heart beat once, twice before he answered. "A couple thousand feet. If you want to land, we can…I was just, ah, teasing you before."

"No, this is fine." Feeling his surprise – _he looks so good_ – she quickly added, "It's something new. Might as well try it out."

"Yeah…something new." His heart quickened to a gallop, and suddenly Toph was acutely aware of every inch of his body pressing against hers.

She loosened one of her hands long enough to hit him in the kidney, eliciting an indignant cry from the Airbender. "Keep your mind on the road, Twinkle Toes. There's a big lonely sky bison around here and I'd hate to crash into him."

Aang grinned. The way it changed his cheerful face made her heart skip several beats. "Yes, Sifu Toph."

"Now shut up and fly me to Ba Sing Se."

"Don't you mean, 'yip yip'?"

Somewhere above them, a great bellow announced Appa's presence as the sky bison called back to his friend.

Aang and Toph laughed together, the melody of their merriment ringing out through the cool air. Their bodies relaxed, limbs melting into each other, their flight slowing to an aimless glide. A buoyant lightness expanded in Toph's chest, a feeling that she knew had nothing to do with the weightlessness of her flight.

Their laughter faded into dreamy giggles. She leaned into him, allowing him to nuzzle the top of her head. Closing her eyes, she immersed herself in the world…in _her_ world…in the world that was nothing but Aang.

For a long time, she could hear only the faint rushing of the breeze and the contented thumping of his heart.

"I wish you could see what I see right now," Aang murmured reverently. "The world is so amazing from up here. Everything is so small, and you feel so wild and free…it's _beautiful_."

Toph kicked him with her heels. "Small, wild and free? _Please_. The world has _nothing_ on me."

His body vibrated against hers as he chuckled, and her eyes widened, a wordless whimper escaping her at how stunningly _clear_ he was in her mind's eye. "And beautiful, too. Are you sure you don't mind not seeing?"

Toph smiled. "Don't worry about me, Twinkle Toes," she breathed, tightening her arms and legs around his strong, solid torso. His gentle heart thrummed in her vision. "I can see everything I need to."

* * *

><p><strong>Honest critique is always appreciated :)<strong>


End file.
